Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) A Deliberate Form Of Psychological Programming Which Has It’s Roots In The Trade Of Hypnotism Which Is A Form Of Mind Control Rather Than Psychology, Is Something We Should All Be Aware Of And How To AVOID IT. “What Does This Have To Do With Me?” You May Ask. If You Need To Buy White Goods And Furnishings, Computers Or Sound Systems, A House Or Car, Make Investment Decisions, If You’re Considering Purchasing A Product Over The Internet – Especially An Information Product, A Sign Up Of Some Kind (That’s Irresistible Whatever) You’re Interested In Infomercials……YES IT DOES!
Today, I’ve been doing more research on Memory Skills and I came across a book by someone who was Dyslexic and managed to generate an interest in reading – he determined he did not want to seem dumb anymore, he went and purchased a few books on memory and that led to other things. His story sounded interesting and a few of his tips very good. So happens, he has read many self-improvement books and learnt different skills. Then there was some mention about NLP on the sales page and instinctively I backed off. So turns out he is skilled in that as well, so I did a quick search on the familiar term I have heard numerous times “Neuro-Linguistic Programming”………almost immediately and found the article in this Post, I thought I should place it on my Blog for my Readers Protection.
10 Ways to Protect Yourself From NLP Mind Control
BY JASON LOUV
NLP or Neuro-Linguistic Programming is one of the world’s most prevalent methods of mind control, used by everyone from sales callers to politicians to media pundits, and it’s nasty to the core. Here’s ten ways to make sure nobody uses it on you… ever.
Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) is a method for controlling people’s minds that was invented by Richard Bandler and John Grinder in the 1970s, became popular in the psychoanalytic, New Age worlds in the 1980s, and advertising, marketing and politics in the 1990s and 2000s. It’s become so interwoven with how people are communicated to and marketed at that its use is largely invisible. It’s also somewhat of a pernicious, devilish force in the world—nearly everybody in the business of influencing people has studied at least some of its techniques. Masters of it are notorious for having a Rasputin-like ability to trick people in incredible ways—most of all themselves.
After explaining a bit about what NLP is and where it came from, I’m going to break down 10 ways to inoculate yourself against its use. You’ll likely be spotting it left, right and center in the media with a few tips on what to look for. Full disclosure: During my 20s, I spent years studying New Age and religious systems for changing consciousness. One of them was NLP. I’ve been on both ends of the spectrum: I’ve had people ruthlessly use NLP to attempt to control me, and I’ve also trained in it and even used it in the advertising world. Despite early fascination, by 2008 or so I had largely come to the conclusion that it’s next to useless—a way of manipulating language that greatly overestimates its own effectiveness as a discipline, really doesn’t achieve much in the way of any kind of lasting change (for personal use) and contains no real core of respect for people or even true understanding of how people work.
Though mainstream therapists rejected NLP as Pseudoscientific nonsense (it has been officially peer reviewed and discredited as an intervention technique), it nonetheless caught on. It was still the 1970s, and the Human Potential Movement was in full swing—and NLP was a new trend. Bandler had made over $800,000 from his invention —he was even being called on to train corporate leaders etc.
The Cofounder Richard Bandler has been in law courts with cocaine and murder charges and wangled his way out of them with his wicked device NLP. How disgusting, how shameful. (altered, it’s gross).
The case hardly impeded the growing popularity of NLP, however, which was now big business, working its way not only into the toolkit of some psychotherapists but also into nearly every corner of the political and advertising worlds, having grown far beyond the single personage of Richard Bandler, though he continued (and continues) to command outrageous prices for NLP trainings throughout the world.
Today, the techniques of NLP and Ericksonian-style hypnotic writing can be readily seen in the world of Internet marketing, online get-rich-quick schemes and scams. (For more on this, see the excellent article Scamworld: ‘Get rich quick’ schemes mutate into an online monster by my friend Joseph Flatley, one of the best articles I’ve ever read on the Web.)
How exactly does this thing work?
NLP is taught in a pyramid structure, with the more advanced techniques reserved for multi-thousand-dollar seminars. To oversimplify an overcomplicated subject, it more or less works like this: first, the user (or “NLPer,” as NLP people often refer to themselves — and I should note here that the large majority of NLP people, especially those who are primarily therapists, are likely well-meaning) of NLP pays very, very close attention to the person they’re working with. By watching subtle cues like eye movement, skin flush, pupil dilation and nervous tics, a skilled NLP person can quickly determine:
a) What side of the brain a person is predominantly using;
b) What sense (sight, smell, etc.) is most predominant in their brain;
c) How their brain stores and utilizes information (ALL of this can be gleaned from eye movements);
d) When they’re lying or making information up.
After this initial round of information gathering, the “NLPer” begins to slowly and subtly mimic the client, taking on not only their body language but also their speech mannerisms, and will begin speaking with language patterns designed to target the client’s primary sense.
An NLP person essentially carefully fakes the social cues that cause a person to drop their guard and enter a state of openness and suggestibility.
For instance, a person predominantly focused on sight will be spoken to in language using visual metaphors—”Do you see what I’m saying?” “Look at it this way”—while a person for which hearing is the dominant sense will be spoken to in auditory language—”Hear me out,” “I’m listening to you closely.”
How can I make sure nobody does that to me?
I’ve had all kinds of people attempt to “NLP” me into submission, including multiple people I’ve worked for over extended periods of time, and even people I’ve been in relationships with. Consequently, I’ve developed a pretty keen immune response to it. I’ve also studied its mechanics very closely, largely to resist the nonsense of said people. Here’s a few key methods I’ve picked up.
1. Be extremely wary of people copying your body language.
If you’re talking to somebody who may be into NLP, and you notice that they’re sitting in exactly the same way as you, or mirroring the way you have your hands, test them by making a few movements and seeing if they do the same thing. Skilled NLPers will be better at masking this than newer ones, but newer ones will always immediately copy the same movement. This is a good time to call people on their rubbish.
2. Move your eyes in random and unpredictable patterns.
This is really hilarious to do to troll NLPers. Especially in the initial stages of rapport induction, an NLP user will be paying incredibly close attention to your eyes. You may think it’s because they’re intensely interested in what you’re saying. They are, but not because they actually care about your thoughts: They’re watching your eye movements to see how you store and access information. In a few minutes, they’ll not only be able to tell when you’re lying or making something up, they’ll also be able to figure out what parts of your brain you’re using when you’re speaking, which can then lead them to be so clued in to what you’re thinking that they almost come across as having some kind of insight into your innermost thoughts. A clever hack for this is just to randomly dart your eyes around—look up to the right, to the left, side to side, down… make it seem natural, but do it randomly and with no pattern. This will drive an NLP person utterly nuts because you’ll be throwing off their calibration.
3. Do not let anybody touch you.
This is pretty obvious and kind of goes without saying in general. But let’s say you’re having a conversation with somebody you know is into NLP, and you find yourself in a heightened emotional state—maybe you start laughing really hard, or get really angry, or something similar—and the person you’re talking to touches you while you’re in that state. They might, for instance, tap you on the shoulder. What just happened? They anchored you so that later, if they want to put you back into the state you were just in the same way.
4. Be wary of vague language.
One of the primary techniques that NLP took from Milton Erickson is the use of vague language to induce hypnotic trance. Erickson found that the more vague language is, the more it leads people into trance, because there is less that a person is liable to disagree with or react to. Alternately, more specific language will take a person out of trance. (Note Obama’s use of this specific technique in the “Change” campaign, a word so vague that anybody could read anything into it.)
5. Be wary of permissive language.
“Feel free to relax.” “You’re welcome to test drive this car if you like.” “You can enjoy this as much as you like.”
This was a major insight of Pre-NLP hypnotists like Erickson: the best way to get somebody to do something, including going into a trance, is by allowing them to give you permission to do so. Because of this, skilled hypnotists will NEVER command you outright to do something—i.e. “Go into a trance.” They WILL say things like “Feel free to become as relaxed as you like.”
6. Be wary of gibberish.
Nonsense phrases like “As you release this feeling more and more you will find yourself moving into present alignment with the sound of your success more and more.” This kind of gibberish is the bread and butter of the pacing-and-leading phase of NLP; the hypnotist isn’t actually saying anything, they’re just trying to program your internal emotional states and move you towards where they want you to go. ALWAYS say “Can you be more specific about that” or “Can you explain exactly what you mean?” This does two things: it interrupts this whole technique, and it also forces the conversation into specific language, breaking the trance-inducing use of vague language we discussed in #4.
7. Read between the lines.
NLP people will consistently use language with hidden or layered meanings. For instance “Diet, nutrition and sleep with me are the most important things, don’t you think?” On the surface, if you heard this sentence quickly, it would seem like an obvious statement that you would probably agree with without much thought. Yes, of course diet, nutrition and sleep are important things, sure, and this person’s really into being healthy, that’s great. But what’s the layered-in message? “Diet, nutrition and sleep with me are the most important things, don’t you think?” Yep, and you just unconsciously agreed to it. Skilled NLPers can be incredibly subtle with that.
8. Watch your attention.
Be very careful about zoning out around NLP people—it’s an invitation to leap in with an Unconscious Cue. Here’s an example: An NLP user who was attempting to get me to write for his blog for free noticed I appeared not to be paying attention and was looking into the distance, and then started using the technique listed in #7 by talking about how he never has to pay for anything because media outlets send him review copies of books and albums for free. “Everything for free,” he began guesting to me. “I get everything. For. Free.” Obvious, no?
9. Don’t agree to anything.
If you find yourself being led to make a quick decision on something, and feel you’re being coerced, leave the situation. Wait 24 hours before making any decisions, especially financial ones. Do NOT let yourself get swept up into making an emotional decision in the spur of the moment. Sales people are armed with NLP techniques specifically for engineering impulse buys. Don’t do it. Leave, and use your rational mind.
10. Trust your intuition.
And the foremost and primary rule: If your gut tells you someone is messing with you, or you feel uneasy around them, trust it. NLP people almost always seem “off,” dodgy, or like used car salesmen. Flee, or request they show you the respect of not applying NLP techniques when interacting with you.
Hopefully this short guide will be of assistance to you in resisting this annoying phenomena. Take it with you on your phone or a printout next time you’re at a used car sales lot, getting signed up for a gym membership, or watching a politician speak on TV. You’ll easily find yourself surprised how you allow yourself to notice more and more NLP techniques… more and more… don’t you think?
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I’m pretty sure the guy who was Dyslexic somehow saw the other side of DLP (to control one's mind) as some kind of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, but certainly Not to be confused with such. Anyway, I always go by the principle of “By a tree’s fruit, you shall know what type of tree it is” and Visa Versa. The two Founders had evil resources and intentions – that’s not going to really benefit the other person or yourself, it’s going to cause harm or bondage. One things for sure, we need very clear judgement when pursuing Self-Improvement books or courses these days - there's all manner of stuff out there, so much of it is unstable. All forms of Mind-Control are out with me, it’s like Chemicals in your Candy.
In Advertising And Certain Websites, There Is Such A Thing As POWER WORDS I Think I Should Include In A Separate Post, That Has To Do With Sales Psychology (you may have heard the term) That Involves Trigger Words And Repetition Etc To Find An Expected Outcome From You. In person, That School Of Sales Work Employs The Skill Of Reading Body Language Too, And Mimicking Your Interests And Mannerisms In Order To Get The Sale – It Could Be The Last Thing You Need To Buy. Be On Your Way Quickly And Tell Them To Do An Honest Day's Work!
In A Stressful World Like We’re Living In These Days, We Do Not Need The Added Stress Of Marketing Ploys Which Can At Times, Affect Important Decision Making Especially, Do We? In The Interest Of Health And Happy Families, I Choose To Cover Such Things In My Blog Because Ignorance Is Not Bliss!